A Beginner’s Guide To Meditation

Have you found yourself stressed out, feeling down, or just plain needing something to add to your daily life to help you find balance and peace? In our busy go-go-go world it can be difficult to find the time to achieve balance, nevermind peace, what with constant ringing phones, messages on social media and more. Finding and achieving your inner peace can be hugely beneficial, not just for your mental health, but also your physical health as well. Combined with sleeping better, less stress, and more energy through the day as well as an ability to combat any issues that arise, meditation has proven time and again to be a hugely beneficial part of any day to day routine. New to the idea? Check out our beginner’s guide to meditation.

Wear Something Comfortable

Wearing something that won’t dig into your skin is a great idea when meditating. Tight clothes can distract you from the meditation and cause you to have a less than meaningful experience, constantly rearranging and moving about to try to get comfortable. Yoga clothes or pyjamas are great for meditating – in fact many people find that meditating before bed or first thing in the morning are the best times.

Find A Quiet Place

Find a place where you won’t be disturbed by people coming and going or by anything like phones ringing or noise from outside. Bedrooms are ideal as they have an air of privacy and quiet solitude about them, but generally meditation can be done anywhere that you won’t be bothered. It’s important to allow yourself to be able to relax fully to achieve the best results with meditation.

Turn Off All Phones/Laptops Etc

A huge note before beginning any meditation is to turn phones, computers and the like on silent or turn them off entirely. You will want to be distraction free while you meditate, and phones beeping with messages or ringing with calls will destroy your zen space. Do yourself a favour and eliminate it before it becomes an issue.

Tune In

To begin meditating sit in a comfortable position and close your eyes. Tune into yourself, notice your own breathing pattern and let it go how it will. Some will tell you to focus on breathing a certain way, but breathing normally can actually be more beneficial for meditative purposes. Focus on your breath. As you breathe, your mind will naturally try to distract you with thoughts. Simply let these thoughts be, but don’t follow them. An example of this will be you suddenly thinking “I need to remember to pick up chicken” and then you find yourself going through your shopping list or imagining yourself in the grocery store. If you find this happening, simply come back to your centre and focus on your breathing.

Zen Out

During meditation you may notice huge personal revelations or breakthroughs or you may just sit in silence breathing with nothing but blankness in your mind. Both of these are huge developments as sometimes the most important work we can do for our mental and physical wellbeing takes place on a subconscious, or invisible level within. Keep at it and you will begin to notice the benefits the more you meditate.

So there you have a beginner’s guide to meditation. With so many benefits to calming the mind for a few minutes per day, it’s no wonder it’s become hugely popular with so many people of varying ages. Enjoy!